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Poxwalkers
Poxwalkers are a form of Chaos-infected undead similar to zombies who have been cursed by one of the Chaos God Nurgle's maladies, the so-called "Walking Pox," so that they can serve as unliving weapons for the Death Guard Traitor Legion. Some Inquisitors of the Ordo Sepulturum -- the new Ordo Minoris of the Inquisition dedicated to battling the undead -- claim that the Walking Pox is a variant of Nurgle's Rot, since unlike zombies, the victim's flesh often mutates even after physical death, growing horns, tentacles and spikes similar to those of Nurgle's victims who become Plaguebearers. Role Shambling across the battlefield in reeking hordes, Poxwalkers engulf their enemies in a rotting tide. They are the cursed victims of Nurgle's plagues, transformed into the unliving weapons of the Death Guard. Amongst the countless diseases propagated by the Legion, none is more fearsome than Nurgle's Rot. This perfect plague is both spiritual and physical in nature, inflicting a drawn-out and horrific decline upon the victim that eventually erodes their soul, while leaving their body as a plague-ridden husk. Yet Nurgle's Rot is but one of the diseases that churn within the innards of the Death Guard, and saturate every world upon which they tread. The Destroyer Plague -- that which tormented Mortarion's sons and delivered them to Nurgle during the Horus Heresy -- still lurks in their rotting flesh. The Zombie Plague, the malady of unliving abomination for which Typhus the Herald is the vector primoria, has variegated into countless strains since the Great Rift yawned wide. The Weeping, Mutterflux, the Slithering Scourge and countless others spread before the Death Guard, and it is a cocktail of these appalling maladies that breeds the Walking Pox. Victims of the Walking Pox find their bodies rotting and shutting down until death eventually takes them. Yet this is not the end. The sufferer remains cruelly conscious and aware, unlike a zombie, trapped within their corpse as it reanimates with a rictus grin and staggers off in search of the living. Their flesh mutates even after death, sprouting bloated, pulsating tentacles and horn-like growths from their skulls similar to those of Nurgle's daemonic Plaguebearers. Simply hearing the mindless, groaning cacophony of the Poxwalkers is enough to infect the souls of all but the most faithful Imperial citizens, leading to massed outbreaks even within fortresses and cities that appear inviolate. Countless souls have been lost in such a way to this malady, every one becoming another heretical abomination intent on murder. By the time the Death Guard move to attack a world so afflicted, they have an army of the dead waiting to aid them. Though most commonly utilised by the vectoriums of the Death Guard's 1st Plague Company, Poxwalkers are used as cannon fodder and terror troops by most Death Guard warbands. In particular, the Carrion Hounds vectorium utilises vast hordes of these fell pestilent creatures to screen the advance of their Heretic Astartes. The warriors of this vile host hold a great affection for the shambling monsters, and often assemble morbid "collections" of infected souls, such as defeated Astra Militarum regiments or entire noble families. They display rudimentary coordination in battle, wielding battlefield debris as crude weapons, and although they are clumsy and slow, they are also inhumanly resilient. In large numbers, these slouching corpse-mutants are capable of overrunning enemy lines, gnawing, bludgeoning and ripping apart in orgies of mindless violence those that may once have counted them amongst their allies. Unit Composition *'10-20 Poxwalkers' Wargear *'Improvised Weapon' See Also *'Zombie Plague' *'Zombie' *'Lost and the Damned' *'Chaos Cults' *'Ordo Sepulturum' Sources *''Codex: Heretic Astartes - Death Guard'' (8th Edition), pp. 17, 22, 29, 43, 76 *''Dark Imperium'' (Game), Death Guard Booklet, "Poxwalkers," pg. 9 *Warhammer Community Category:P Category:Chaos Category:Death Guard